| Day Hikes Day hikes are a safe, easy way to gain the skills you will need to stay safe in the wild--all while learning about the natural and social history of the area. You will learn about the 10 Essentials, map and compass, trip planning, risk management, and staying found. Your Guide will lend you a kit with some of the Ten Essentials, and you will hike +/- 7 miles while learning about Olympic National Park. Trips do not leave every day, so Reserve Your Spot Today! |
Backpacking Backpacking sweeps the backpacker into the wild world of wilderness with all its grandeur and intensity. Backpackers can hike for almost as many days and almost as far as they want: for example, from Staircase in the southeast corner of the park to the Grand Valley in the northeast, from the Dosewallips in the east to Quinault in the west, or from Elwah in the north to Sol Duc in the west. Consider these routes for your ultimate wildnerness experience. Then Reserve Your Spot! |
| Leave No Trace (LNT) Trainings Leave No Trace is the national standard for outdoor recreation ethics from a conservation perspective. The Leave No Trace Center for Outdoor Ethics has established two main basic trainings in LNT: Awareness Workshops and Trainer Courses. Awareness Workshops last only a couple hours and offer little or no outdoor training. Trainer Courses are an intensive overnight experience with some backpacking. Reserve Your Spot for the course that's right for you. |
Scouting Guide and owner Jason Bausher is an Eagle Scout, Vigil Honor recipient, and is Wood Badge-trained. He can advise your troop about 50-miler hikes, the Leave No Trace Awareness Award, and merit badges such as Hiking, Backpacking, Camping, and Climbing. Jason can also serve as a liaison with the National Park Service to organize work parties or service projects in Olympic National Park. PLUS: Grays Harbor Boy Scouts receive FREE TRAININGS! Reserve Time for Your Program. |
| Service Tourism on the Olympic Peninsula will only last if we work to conserve the resource by doing trailwork, raising money for political action, and by teaching wildness to the generation to whom we hand over the earth. Sign Up Today to do or give what you can for the preservation of our children's earth. Where are your talents? Clearing trails? Educating National Park visitors about Leave No Trace ethics and practices? Raising money from friends, family, and business associates? Leading Boy or Girl Scouts? YOU CAN HELP!!! |
Mountain Seminars Do the mountains, rivers, and glaciers of Olympic National Park merely form one big playground, or is wilderness essential to our Being as embodied Beings in the world? Jason Bausher works on questions such as this in his environmental philosophy, and he shares his research in mountain seminars. He received his master's degree in theology from Yale University and is finishing an M.A. while in a doctoral program in philosophy. Check out a few of the seminars. Don't see your burning "big questions" being asked on this list? Email Olympic Mountain School for a custom program. |
Day Hikes
DAY HIKES ARE THE MOST IMPORTANT PROGRAM OFFERED BY OLYMPIC MOUNTAIN SCHOOL FOR VISITORS TO OLYMPIC NATIONAL PARK! Day Hikes offer you a way into Olympic National Park wilderness while gaining a solid foundation in outdoor skills and Leave No Trace so you may gain self-sufficiency and leadership. Your Guide will lend you a kit with some of the Ten Essentials: a lighter, local map, compass, a few personal first aid supplies (moleskin, bandages, no med's), iodine tablets, string, a small knife, and a small flashlight. You will hike over 5 miles, and you will learn some skills necessary to hiking safely in the wilderness: map and compass work, trip planning, and emergency preparedness. Leave No Trace principles will be frequently emphasized. Your guide will show you how to prepare a savory lunch and safely cook it over a camp stove. As the sun sets over Olympic Hemlocks and Douglas Fir, you will return home with some of the outdoor skills necessary to bringing yourself, friends, and family back into the wilderness with safety and independence.
CHOOSE YOUR ADVENTURE:
RAIN FOREST HIKE
Enjoy the rainforest as it should be: in the rain! Take a hike in winter, spring, fall and summer to immerse yourself in clouds and storm showers. Look for the elk and deer who are more likely to be out and about during storms. Year-round rain drops up to 200 inches of water on the rainforests of the Hoh, Queets, and Quinault in Olympic National Park--a fact promising plenty of opportunity to experience what makes the rainforest special. Click HERE for more information on Rainforest Hikes.
STORMWATCHING HIKE
Fantastic storms slam into the coastal wilderness strip and high country of Olympic National Park. Why shield yourself from the full experience of a storm by hiding in a coastal hotel all day long? Get out and experience the storm to find out just how powerful nature can be when the weather becomes wicked. Try a trip to Shi Shi Beach near Neah Bay, Rialto Beach or Third Beach near Forks, or Hurricane Ridge near Port Angeles for the full-body experience of a war between wind and water. Click HERE for more information on Stormwatching Hikes.
HIGH COUNTRY HIKE
Enjoy easy access to the northeastern high country of Olympic National Park to survey the peaks and pinnacles of the Bailey Range, the Needles, the Quinault peaks, the Valhallas, and the mountains north of Sol Duc. Whether it's sunny in the summer or really whipping in the winter, Hurricane Ridge promises access to routes with plenty of sights to see...if there's anything to be seen at all. Click HERE for more information on High Country Hikes.
SUNRISE/SUNSET HIKE
Sunrise and sunset are the times of transition in Olympic National Park: colors erupt and fade, animals arise to feed and lie down to sleep, and the wilderness feels most wild--the time of twilight encompassing both sunrise and sunset. Choose this time for a day hike into the coastal wilderness or the high country for an opportunity to see spectacular sunrises and sunsets.
CHILDREN'S HIKE
Why leave your children out of the wilderness experience when you can share this special place with them? Infants and small toddlers can be carried in baby backpacks, and bigger toddlers can walk at a slower pace. These smaller children can thus receive the gift of wildness in the wilderness from a young age--an experience very important to the mental health of all children. Children in grade school can be taught basic outdoor skills. Remember that Cub Scouts begin their programs at age 6, so your son or daughter can learn basic Scouting skills, too.
BLUE GLACIER HIKE
See a real glacier before global warming evaporates them to nothing! Our glaciers in Olympic National Park are shrinking dramatically, so there is no time to delay in seeing these massive sources of our rivers, lakes, and streams. The closest and safest access to a glacier of any size is the Hoh River Valley. Because this hike leaves from Glacier Meadows 18 miles up the Hoh River Valley toward Mount Olympus, it is a day hike you can take in addition to your own backpacking trip. Crossing glaciers without proper skills is very dangerous, and many people around the globe die every year from crevasse falls. With guidance, however, it is an experience you will never forget. Travel on the heavily-crevassed Blue Glacier underneath Mt. Mercury and Mt. Matthias toward Glacier Pass watched over by the East, West, and Middle Peaks of Mt. Olympus and the Snow Dome. See how the ice carves valleys and contributes to the national economy as the source of fish, power, recreation, natural and man-made irrigation, and the overall ecology of planet Earth.
WINE HIKE
Olympic Peninsula wineries near the northeastern corner of Olympic National Park offer opportunities for tasting excellent wine both at the wineries and inside the Park. Allow your designated driver to take you on a tour of some of these wineries before taking some of this wine that you purchase into the home of the Greek gods. The Greek god Bacchus shares in the guiding of this hike. Click HERE for more information on Wine Hikes.
CULINARY DELIGHT HIKE
What better place to enjoy cheeses, smoked meats, fresh fruits, a hot gourmet meal, and wine than Olympic National Park! Fresh seafood pasta warms body and soul after cooking on a camp stove under a canopy of lush conifers. No more freeze-dried astronaut food and bland dishes mired in boring flavorlessness. Bring New York style to Olympic specialties set among a wilderness topography. Click HERE for more information on Culinary Delight Hikes.
CHRISTIAN HIKE
Both the New Testament and the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament) thematize wilderness, mountains, and special topographies of contemplation. Your understanding of these Biblical stories will be enriched by the experience of these special, wild places. Your guide has a Bachelor's degree in Religious Studies (and Political Science and Philosophy), a Master of Arts in Religion in Theology, and another Master of Arts in Philosophy (specifically theological philosophy). Take advantage of this meeting of scholarship and wilderness to strengthen your faith, your biblical knowledge, and the understanding of the ecology of theology.
KOSHER HIKES
Gone are the days when "wandering in the wilderness" was a punishment! Eat in accordance with the laws of kashrut and daven as you'd like to daven when you set up your hike with Olympic Mountain School. All kelim are kashered and set apart from utensils used in other courses. All food is sealed for you to open and has hechshers for your inspection. Davening is scheduled by you. Almost any of the other hikes (Stormwatching, High Country, Rainforest, Culinary Delight) may be scheduled as a Kosher Hike with obvious modifications to the schedule and menu. With none of the Olympic wineries offering kosher wine, however, Wine Hikes are usser. Rabbinical oversight through the Va'ad HaRabanim of Seattle is being pursued but is not currently established. With everything but the kelim sealed and Orthodox Union hechshers on all food, however, questions about the integrity of kashrut claims should be nil. Click HERE for more information on Kosher Hikes.
HIGH SECURITY HIKES
Olympic Mountain School guide Jason Bausher has passed several federal background checks and has served on advance teams for President Clinton, First Lady Hillary Clinton, Vice President Al Gore, and other dignitaries. Communications, security personnel, and armored vehicles can be obtained to protect high-value assets during vacation trips and other missions into Olympic National Park. Bausher can liaise with Olympic National Park to organize logistics for the operation while remaining within the Code of Federal Regulations governing activities within the Park. Protection plans can be formulated for specific routes entering, traveling inside of, and exiting the National Park. Click HERE for more information on High Security Hikes.
BUSINESS HIKES
Virtual offices extend today into the wilderness. If you can leave the office but cannot allow the office to leave you, then try the communications advantage of a satellite phone, a laptop, and a guide-porter who doubles as your personal assistant. Satellite services with a laptop bring data from the worldwide web to the wilderness, thus allowing access to information while accessing the snowy slopes and other wild places of Olympic National Park. Wildness inside the Park does not excuse wildness in your portfolio while in the wilderness. Click HERE for more informaiton on Business Hikes.
WHAT TO BRING ON DAY HIKES:
You will need to bring the following items. Please avoid cotton at all costs: "Cotton Kills!"
- Athletic running shoes or (preferably) hiking boots.
- 2 pairs socks (preferably with polypropylene liner socks)
- Raingear (top jacket and pant bottoms). No ponchos!
- Sweater (preferably wool)
- T shirt (preferably polypropelene or other plastic)
- Trousers or shorts (preferably synthetic materials and not cotton denim)
- Your favorite high-energy snacks to eat on the trail (Snickers bars, for example). One snack should be salty (Chex mix, for example).
- Plastic bowl and spoon
For hikes of longer distance, you should be physically fit enough to hike 5-10 miles at a moderate rate (2-3 miles per hour) without a pack in 8 hours.
All food allergies must be noted on the Registration Forms completed and submitted to your guide prior to going on your day hike.
